AND  LABOR 


THEIR  RELATIONS— EMANCIPATION  OF  LABOR  DEMANDS  A  RE¬ 
FORMED  LAND  POLICY-RAILROAD  AND  CANAL  SUBSIDIES 
—THE  PERIOD  OF  DISTRIBUTION  TO  FOLLOW  THAT 
OF  DEVELOPMENT— THE  MEASURES  AND 
POLICY  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY. 


Published  by  the  Union  Republican  Congressional  Committee,  Washington,  D,  G. 


Relations  cf  Land  to  Labor. 

On  the  subjects  of  land  and  labor,  the  Hon.  George  W.  Julian,  who,  during  his 
long  and  useful  career  in  the  United  States  House  of  Representatives  has  made  these 
questions  a  speciality,  and  who  has  all  the  time  held  with  reference  to  them  advanced 
opinions,  in  a  recent  magazine  article  says  : 

“  Among  the  problems  of  American  politics  yet  to  be  solved,  the  right  disposition 
of  our  public  domain  may  fairly  be  regarded  as  first  in  importance.  It  stands  inti¬ 
mately  related  to  the  questions  of  labor,  of  finance,  and  of  trade.  In  one  form  or 
another  it  touches  all  the  springs  of  our  well  being  as  a  people.  It  reaches  down  to 
the  very  foundations  of  democratic  equality,  and  in  its  great  social  and  economic 
bearinge  takes  hold  on  coming  generations.” 

The  National  Government,  by  its  declaration  that  there  should  be  no  more  servile 
labor  under  its  flag,  established  a  new  era  for  the  industrial  millions,  and  gave  dignity 
and  hope  and  opportunity  to  the  laboring  man. 

Until  I860  the  country,  fora  quarter  cA  a  century,  had  been  governed  and  con¬ 
trolled  by  the  Democratic  party,  and  that,  party  bad  been  dictated,  in  its  measures  and 
policy,  by  the  slaveholding  oligarchy  of  the  Southern  section  of  the  Union.  Under 
such  control  labor  was  debased,  deprived  of  its  just  power  and  influence  in  public 
affairs,  and  forced  to  toil  for  a  governing  and  despotic  class. 

Where  so  much  debasement  and  so  much  oppression  existed,  and  where  na'ional 
laws  and  policy  were  dictated  by  the  oppressors,  it  was  simply  impossible  that  labor 
anywhere,  under  the  same  Government,  should  rise  to  its  proper  level,  or  hold  the 
preponderating  influence  to  which  it  was  and  is  justly  entitled. 

Upon  losing  control  the  Democracy  did  not  await  the  development  of  reforms,  but 
instantly,  with  the-loss  of  their  power  to  oppress,  they  organized  and  precipitated  a 
revolution  in  hostility  to  free,  and  in  the  interest  of  servile  labor. 

The  progress  of  this  contest  developed  the  fact  that,  this  revolution  had  been  long 
premeditated,  that  it  was  supported  ardently  by  the  entire  Democracy  South,  and  bad 


2 


the  hearty  sympathy  of  the  Democratic  leaders  in  every  section  of  the  country.  Thai 
in  the  Republican  party  it  found  not  one  advocate  or  supporter  in  all  the  Nation ,  but 
united  and  stem  and  successful  opposition.  These  facts  are  too  patent  to  require  the 
support  of  examples.  Almost  every  vote  in  Congress,  during  and  since  the  rebellion, 
will  attest  the  position  of  the  Democracy  as  above  stated.  Nor  are  other  instances 
laoking  t»  prove  the  recent  hostility  of  the  Democratic  leaders  to  the  elevation  o. 
labor. 

Under  the  plan  of  reconstruction  of  the  late  insurgent  States  by  Andrew  Johnson 
everywhere  praised  and  sanctioned  by  the  Democracy,  the  poli  ical  power  was  to  b;‘ 
placed  wholly  in,  not  only  rebel  hands,  but  in  the  hands  of  the  rebels  who  hold  ifa 
land  monopoly  of  the  South •  This  purpose  of  the  Democracy  was  seen  in  the  p  ans 
they  proposed  for  the  reorganization  of  labor  in  those  States,  in  each  of  whict  an 
apprenticeship  or  kindred  contract  system  was  to  be  estabhs'ned.  which,  in  name  only, 
was  better  than  slavery.  Inform  it  was  not  less  oppressive;  in  practice  it  would? 
have  been  more  unbearable  and  equally  degrading.  Under  such  a  system  lab  >rcoulo 
not  have  been  respected,  con’d  not  have  risen  above  serfdom,  could  not.  have  acquired 
homes  or  education,  or  exercised  any  adequate  force  in  the  making  or  execution  os 
he  laws. 

fc  is  not  necessary  to  recite  in  detail  any  of  the  numerous  plans  to  oppress  and  da. 
^rade  labor,  which  the  Johnson  Democratic  policy  developed,  they  are  familiar  13 
the  country,  and  were  so  revolting  to  thQpublic’sense  of  just  ce,  that  the  whole  schema 
was  repudiated  by  popular  direction  in  13G3 — and  reconstruction,  based  upon  citizen 
ship  and  the  elevation  of  labor,  substituted. 

Now  while  we  bear  in  mind  that  this  proposed  practical  return  to  slavery  was  cor 
dially  sanctioned  by  the  Democracy  of  the  whole  country,  and  that  they  even  now 
threaten  to  return  to  it,  by  tho  repeal  of  the  Republican  measures  of  reconstruction 
let  us  pause  for  one  moment  and  contrast  this  with 

What  the  republican  Party  has  Done  for  Labor. 

1st.  Among  the  first,  acts  of  the  Republican  Congress,  after  some  necessary  measure 
to  resist  the  Democratic  Rebellion,  wasthe  adoption  of  the  Homestead  law  under  which, 
the  whole  mass  of  the  public  domain  is  opened  to  the  possession  and  ownership  of 
the  laboring  man,  upon  the  condition  of  settlement  and  cultivation,  at  the  nomiual 
price  of  $10  for  a  160  acres. 

2d.  Provision  was  made  by  which  this  vast  property  is  largely  enhauced  in  value, 
and  rendered  accessible  to  men  of  limited  means,  over  the  lines  of  the  Trans-conti¬ 
nental  Railroad, — the  construction  of  which,  had  been  delayed  under  Democratic  rule, 
by  the  fear  that  fre©  labor  would  possess  this  rich  inheritance,  to  the  exclusion  of 
slave  labor. 

3d.  The  whole  system  of  servile  labor  was  abolished  by  the  Republican  party,  in 
spite  of  the  unitod  and  persistent  opposition  of  the  Democracy  in  Congress  and  on 
the  battle  field. 

4tb.  Again,  the  whole  mass  of  unrequited  labor  was  lifted  to  the  dignity  of  the 
country’s  defenders,  thereby  giving  it  enlarged  opportunities,  enabling  it  to  command 
the  attention  and  the  sympathies  of  the  nation,  aud  rendering  its  future  subjection  to 
bondage  absolutely  impossible. 

5th.  This  whole  class  was  endowed  with  citizenship  and  all  its  rights  and  advan¬ 
tages — against  all  of  which  acts,  the  Democrats,  in  Congress  and  in  the  States,  re¬ 
corded  a  united  negative — yet  it  is  easy  to  see,  that  each  successive  step  added  im¬ 
measurably  to  the  dignity  and  power  of  labor. 

6th.  The  whole  remaining  public  lands  of  the  South,  were  reserved  from  sale,  and 
appropriated  to  the  exclusive  use  of  actual  settlers,  by  which,  the  landless  laborers  of 
that  section,  come  to  the  ownership  of  more  than  45,000,000  acres,  sulficient  for  half 
a  million  of  homes  of  80  acres  each,  and  by  which,  also;  the  further  progress  of  land 
monopoly  in  that  section  is  forever  stopped. 

7th.  It  has  given  guaranty  by  a  solemn  and  unauimous  declaration  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  that  the  future  land  policy  of  tne  party  shall  be  in  tho  interest  of  in- 
dividaal  occupation  and  ownership,  and  opposed  to  sales  or  grants  under  conditions, 
which  will  admit  the  further  growth  ot  personal  or  corporate  monopoly. 

8th.  And  finally  it  has  given  practical  evidence  of  its  fidelity  to  the  principles  of 
land  distribution  to  actual  occupants,  through  it3  organized  land  committees,  and  ia 
the  defeat  of  numerous  bind  grant  hills,  at  the  recent  session  of  Congress. 


I 


I 


Land  Sudeidies. 


Railroad  Grands  to  States  prior  to  1861.  Acres. 

Illinois.  1850 . .  2,605,058.00 

Mississippi,  1850  and  1856 .  1,400,440.00 

Alabama,  1856 .  3,729,120.00 

Florida.  1856 .  2,360,112.90 

Louisiana,  1856 .  1,588,720.00 

Arkansas,  1858  .  2,149,239.68 

Missouri,  1852-3 .  2,162,442.21 

Iowa,  1856 . 3.382,287.56 

Michigan,  1856  .  4,763,450.85 

Wisconsin,  1856-7 . 2,338,360.50 

Minnesota,  1857 .  3,493,000.00 


Acres . 29,971,226.65 

Railroad  Grants  to  States  subsequent  to  1861.  Acres. 

Arkansas,  1866 .  2,655,032.00 

Missouri,  1866  .  1,582,718.00 

Iowa,  1864 . 3,358,920.52 

Michigan,  1862  to  1865 . 664,480.00 

Wisconsin,  1882  to  1866 .  3,040,000.00 

Minnesota.  1864  to  1866 . 4,783.403.00 

Kansas,  1863  to  1866  .  7,753,000.00 

California,  1866-7 .  3,720,000.00 

Minnesota,  July  28,  1868 .  200,000.00 

Oregon,  March  3.  1864 .  75.000.00 

Do . May  4,  1870 .  1,200,000.00 


Total  acres,  estimated . 28,932,553.17 

Grants  far  Canals  prior  to  1861.  Acres. 

Indiana . 1,439,279.00 

Onio . ~ .  1,100,361.00 

Illinois .  290,915.00 

Wisconsin .  125.431,00 

Michigan . 760.000.00 


Acres . . .  3,705,986.00 

Grants  for  Canals  subsequent  to  1861.  Acres. 

Wisconsin . : . .  200,000.00 

Michigan . . .  500,000.00 


Acres .  700,000-00 

Grants  to  States  for  Wagon-Roads.  >  Acres. 

Wisconsin,  1863 . .  250.000.00 

Michigan,  1863-4 . ! . 1,718,613.27 

Oregon,  1864  to  1866 .  1,256,800.00 


Total  acres,  estimated .  3,225,413.27 

Grants  to  Railroad  Corporations. 

Union  and  Central  Pacific  Rcilroa.ds,  with  branch  from  Omaha,  Acres. 

Nebraska .  85,000,000.00 

Northern  Pacific  Railroad,  original  grant,  estimated .  47,000,000.00 

Northern  Pacific  Railcoad,  under  joint  resolution  of  May  31,  1870, 
authorizing  the  Company  to  issue  bonds  and  mortgage  its  road  to 
secure  the  same,  and  to  construct  a  branch  road,  and  for.  other 

purposes . 11,000,000.00 

Atlantic  and  Pacific  Railroad .  42,000,000.00 


Total  acres,  estimated . 135,000-000.00 


I 


4 


Recapitulation .  Acres. 

Prior  to  1861 — Grants  to  States  for  railroads .  29,971,226.65 

Grants  for  canals .  3,706,986.00 

Subsequent  to  1861 — 

Grants  to  States  for  railroads .  28,932.553.17 

Grants  for  canals .  700,000.00 

Wagon-roads .  3,225,413.27 

Grants  to  incorporations . 135,000,000.00 


Total  acres,  estimated . 201,535,179.09 


Some  small  grants  have  been  made  for  the  improvement  of  rivers,  which  are  not 
included  in  the  above  estimates. 

The  quantities  stated  are  taken  from  the  official  estimates  of  the  number  of  acres 
that  will  inure  under  the  respective  grants  by  the  terms  of  the  statute.  But  few  of 
the  grants  have,  as  yet.  been  adjusted,  the  title  having  actually  passed  from  the  United 
States  to  lees  than  30,000.000  of  acres. 

The  final  adjustment  will  be  less  than  the  estimates  by  some  millions  of  acres,  being 
reduced  by  sales,  homesteads,  and  pre  eruptions,  which  will  take  hold  of  the  lands 
between  the  dates  of  the  acts  respectively,  and  the  actual  marking  of  the  lines  of  the 
roads  upon  the  ground,  after  which  the  rights  of  the  grantees  are  to  be  respected. 

The  Policy  of  these  Concessions. 

The  policy  of  granting  alternate  portions  of  the  public  domain,  for  the  improve¬ 
ment  or  construction  of  channels  of  intercommunication,  was  inaugurated  as  early  as 
1827,  when  more  than  one  million  of  acres  of  land  were  granted  to  the  State  of  Indi¬ 
ana  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal.  It  was  contended  in 
favor  of  the  bill  that  it  would  render  the  interior  of  the  State  accessible,  and  enhance 
the  value  and  stimulate  the  sale  of  the  remaining  portions — an  argument  familiar  to 
all  and  conceded  by  all. 

The  vote  on  the  bill  was  : 

In  the  Senate — Yeas,  28  ;  nays,  14. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives — Yeas,  90;  nays,  67. 

No  political  classification  of  the  vote  is  given,  and  a  careful  examination  indicates 
that  it  was  not  regarded  as  a  political  issue. 

The  next  imnortant  grant  of  land,  tor  internal  improvements,  was  made  in  1850  to 
the  State  of  Illinois,  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  the  Central  railroad  in  that  State. 
This  grant  was  infinitely  more  valuable,  in  proportion  to  the  expenditure  require  of 
the  grantee,  than  any  since  made.  The  vote  on  the  passage  of  the  bill  was  : 

In  the  Senate  :  Yeas — Democrats,  18  ;  Whigs,  8  ;  total,  26.  Nays — Democrats, 
7;  Whigs  7  ;  total.  14.  Not  voting — Democrats,  10;  Whigs,  10;  total,  20. 

Among  the  Democrats  voting  for  the  bill  were  : 

Thos.  II.  Benton,  Jesse  D.  Bright.  Jefferson  Davis,  Stephen  A.  Douglass,  and 
Henry  S.  Foote. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  :  Yeas — Democrats,  41  :  Whigs,  60.  Nays — Demo 
erats.  43  ;  Whigs.  32. 

The  fate  of  this  bill  does  not  appear  to  have  been  decided  upon  any  political  grounds 
but  there  is  a  clear  indication  that  sectional  feeling  entered  into  the  contest,  the 
larger  portion  of  Southern  men  voting  against  the  bill  and  a  majority  of  the  North¬ 
ern  men  for  it. 

The  beneficial  effect  which  this  important  measure  had  upon  the  State  of  Illinois 
gave  a  great  impulse  to  popular  feeling  in  favor  of  the  policy  it  indicated  ;  and,  in¬ 
cluding  that  grant,  the  concessions  nnder  Democratic  auspices — that  party  holding 
the  control  of  Congress  and  the  Executive  Departments — had,  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1861,  swollen  to  the  amount  before  stated — 33,677.212.65  acres — nearly  all  of  which 
was  in  the  older  and  better  settled  land  States. 

The  Republican  party,  continuing  the  policy  in  response  to  the  popular  judgment; 
has,  since  1860,  allowed  to  be  appropriated  for  like  purposes  28,932,553.17  million's 
of  acres  to  States.  But,  in  neither  period,  that  from  1850  to  1860,  or  from  I860  to 
1870,  were  these  measures  advocated  or  opposed  upon  political  grounds.  An  exami¬ 
nation  of  the  record  will  show  that  the  majority  of  both  parties,  in  most  instances, 
supported  the  policy  and  voted  for  the  measures. 


o 


Grants  to  Corporations. 

We  now  come  to  tbe  consideration  of  the  large  appropriations  of  land  cc*  «<id  xnthe 
construction  of  the  three  great  trans-Continental  railways.  These  line?,  pacing 
mainly  through  sparsely  peopled  territory,  without  the  limits  of  any  State,  meet  neces¬ 
sarily  be  constructed  under  national  authority,  and  to  that  end  corporations  have  been 
created  and  land  concessiens  made  as  hereinbefore  stated : 


To  the  Union  and  Central  Pacific  railroads,  estimated .  35,000.000  00 

To  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  and  Branch,  estimated .  58,000,000  00 

To  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  railroad,  estimated .  42,000,000  00 


Total  estimated  acres .  135,000.000  00 


Union  and  Central  Pacific  Railroad. 

The  vote  on  the  passage  of  the  bill  for  this  road  was: 

In  the  Senate:  Yeas — Republicans,  27;  Democrats,  8.  Nays — Republicans,  3; 
Democrats,  2. 

Among  the  yeas  are  O.  H.  Browning,  Edgar  Cowan,  James  Dixon,  and  James  R. 
Doolittle,  who  have  since  joined  the  Democratic  party. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives :  Yeas — Republicans,  66  ;  Democrats,  13.  Nays — 
Republicans,  27  ;  Democrats,  22. 

Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 

In  the  Senate ;  The  bill  passed  without  a  division,  there  being  no  vote  against  it ; 
at  least  no  one  who  desired  to  be  so  recorded. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  :  Yeas — Republicans,  52  ;  Democrats,  22.  Nays — 
Republicans,  29  ;  Democrats,  31. 

It  will  hardly  be  contended  by  any  candid  mind,  that  there  is  a  party  .contest  indi¬ 
cated  in  the  foregoing  votes  on  the  Pacific  Railroad,  bill,  yet.  these  were  the  bills 
which  appropriated  the  land  for  those  roads  and  which  have  led  to  the  construction  of 
one,  and  will  end  in  the  completion  of  the  others. 

The  plain  facts  are.  that  all  saw  the  necessity  and  advantage  of  these  great  national 
thoroughfares  and  united,  without  distinction  of  party,  in  measures  to  secure  their 
construction. 

No  bills,  so. important  as  these,  can  ever  pass  either  House  without  incurring  more  or 
less  of  opposition.  The  Democratic  party  had  tried  for  fifteen  years  to  inaugurate 
this  great  work  of  connecting  the  oceans,  and  opening  up  to  the  settler  the  interior 
of  the  continent,  but  had  utterly  failed,  because  of  its  inability  to  overcome  sectional 
opposition.  When  the  opposing  section  went  into  rebellion,  it  opened  the  door  for 
Republican  enterprize.  The  opportunity  was  promptly  improved,  and  the  country 
has  the  result  in  one  completed  road  across  the  continent  and  two  others  in  progress, 
and  certain  of  completion  at  no  distant  day. 

At  the  last  session  of  the  41st  Congress,  application  was  made  by  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad  Company  for  authority  to  mortgage  its  property  and  franchises,  as-security  for 
a  loan  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  its  road.  To  this  measure,  there  was  considerable 
opposition,  instigated  to  some  extent,  no  doubt,  by  rival  interests,  and  to  some  ex¬ 
tent,  by  a  desire  on  the  part  of  a  few  Democratic  leaders,  to  reap  political  capital  by 
a  pretended  friendship  for  the  settlers,  which  they  had  hitherto  failed  to  manifest. 
The  policy  of  constructing  these  continental  lines  was,  however,  adhered  to  by  a  ma¬ 
jority  in  both  Houses,  and  the  necessary  legal  provision  has  been  made. 

Having  thus  secured  the  opening  of  the  interior  of  the  continent,  and  done  impar¬ 
tial  justice  to  the  sections  of  country  immediately  interested,  it  seemed  clear  to  the 
thoughtful  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  that  the  time  had  arrived  when — 
some  radical  change  or  material  modification  of  the  land  policy  should  be  inaugurated. 
It  was  the  judgment  of  a  very  large  portion  of  the  House  that,  \ihrn  the  great  thor¬ 
oughfares  already  provided  for  should  be  completed,  the  country  would  be  sufficiently 
opened  to  settlement,  and  that  the  construction  of  local  counecting  lines  might  well 
be  left  to  local,  State  and  individual  or  corporate  enterprize,  unaided  by  government 
subsidy.  And  at  least,  that  in  any  future  grants,  the  pre-emption  principle  should  be 
rigidly  applied,  holdir.^  the  granted  lands,  equally  with  those  of  t-e  government, 
open  to  the  settle  ,  at  the  minimum  price  put  upon  the  government  lauds,  and  re¬ 
stricting  sales  by  the  companies  to  actual  occupants  :  and  also  requiring  the  com¬ 
panies  to  dispose  of  their  lands  within  some  limited  period. 


6 


With  such  wholesome  restrictions,  it  was  thought,  that  some  few  grants  forming  con¬ 
necting  links  between  prominent  business  points  and  populous  sections  af  the  interi¬ 
or,  might  be  made  with  advantage  to  the  public. 

The  policy  thus  indicated,  but  for  the  extraordinary  rapacity-  of  the  Railroad  in¬ 
terests,  would  no  doubt  have  been,  to  some  extent  introduced.  But  the  vast  number 
of  schemes  brought  forward,  alarmed  the  more  prudent  minds  in  the  House,  and  the 
consequence  has  been  the  defeat  of  all  of  them,  save  those  mentioned  above,  as  pass¬ 
ed  in  1868-9 — 70  and  further,  the  unanimous  adoption  of  the  following  resolution,  in 
favor  of  terminating  at  once  the  Land  Grant  policy  : 

RESOLUTION. 

u Resolved ,  That  in  the  judgment  of  this  House,  thepeliev  of  granting  subsidies  in 
public  lands  to  railroad  and  other  corporations  ought  to  be  discontinued;  and  that 
every  consideration  of  public  policy  and  equal  justice  to  the  whole  people  requires 
that  the  public  lands  of  the  United  States  should  be  held  for  the  exclusive  purpose  of 
securing  Homesteads  to  actual  settlers  under  the  Homestead  and  pre-emption  laws, 
subject  to  reasonable  appropriations  of  such  lands  for  educational  purposes.” 

This  resolution  was  presented  by  Mr.  H  dman,  a  Democrat,  but  it  was  unanimously 
adopted  by  a  House  of  Representatives  which  is  three- fourths  Republican,  and  it 
indicates  clearly  the  views  of  the  Republican  party,  as  contrasted  with  any  further 
extension  of  the  land  grant  policy,  except  in  the  exceptional  cases  and  with  the  con¬ 
ditions  above  mentioned* 

It  is  clearly  indica'ed  by  the  adoption  of  the  foregoing  resolution,  and  the  signal 
defeat  of  the  vast  number  of  land  grant  propositions  by  the  Forty-first  Congress  at 
its  recent  session,  that'a  new  policy  is  to  prevail,  and  that  the  period  of  development, 
by  means  of  approach  through  governmental  aid,  is  substantially  closed. 

The  great  body  of  the  lands  in  each  section  having  been  rendered  accessible  to  the 
settlers,  the  next  great  economic  step  must  be  that  which  will  most  certainly  multiply 
the  number  ^proprietors,  prevent  monopoly,  and  preserve  for  the  occupation  of  the 
people  the  remainder  of  this  vast  public  estate. 

But,  before  considering  a  new  policy,  let  us  see  how  far  we  have  advanced — what 
the  land  grant  policy,  the  unrestricted  sales,  and  the  optional  homestead  measures 
have  accomplished. 

What  the  Land  Grant  Policy  has  Accomplished. 

When  this  policy  was  adopted,  the  whole  vast  territories  of  the  United  States,  from 
the  head  of  Lake  Erie  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  were  little  else  than  an  untraveled  wil¬ 
derness,  beyond  the  reach  of  the  poor  man,  and  practically  unknown  and  uudesirable 
to  the  affluent. 

Twenty  years  of  this  jDolicy  has  created  States  and  Territories  throughout  this  vast 
region,  transferred  to  the  then  desert  places  prosperity,  refinement,  cultivation,  and 
supremacy.  It  has  added  thousands  of  millions  of  wealth  to  the  possessions  of  labor 
for  the  few  hundreds  it  has  received  through  the  national  beneficence.  It  has  taken 
valueless  and  unoccupied  places  and  converted  them,  and  all  surrounding  them,  into 
busy  prosperous  kome3  of  in  i.ustry  and  intelligence.  For  each  dollar  it  has  gained, 
the  people  and  the  country  ha/e  gained  thousands.  It  is  more  than  possible  that  but 
for  the  development  ftius  ca  sed  slavery  would  have  triumphed  over  liberty  in  the 
recent  contest  between  the  opposing  systems  of  labor.  It  has  opened  up  a  pathway 
for  the  advance  of  labor  to  the  possession  of  the  continent,  with  all  its  wealth  of  soil, 
Climate,  and  mines;  and  has  planted  the  channels  of  international  and  domestic 
commerce  in  the  midst  of  the  future  homes  of  our  people.  It  is  giving  to  agricultu¬ 
ral  and  mechanical  industries  opportunities  and  adequate  rewards  in  localities  where 
before  such  opportunities  and  rewards  were  impossible.  Finally,  it  has  accomplished 
the  grand  purpose  of  its  adoption,  and  rendered  possible  and  desirable  a  uevv  policy. 

Unrestricted  Sales  aad  Optional  Homesteads. 

The  policy  of  unrestricted  sales  of  the  public  lands  has  been  coincident  with  the 
system.  Its  operation  has  been  availed  of: 

First.  By  the  cultivators — actual  settlers — almost  uni fonnly  throughout  the  North 
and  West,  in  small  quantities,  40,  80,  160,  320,  and  640  acres  in  the  great  majority  of 
cases,  the  purchases  not  averaging  more  than  100  acres  each.  In  the  South  the 
spirit  of  monopoly  has  prevailed,  the  farms  are  large,  the  proprietors  few,  the  labor- 


7 


ing  masses  landless-  This  was  due  to  the  system  of  degraded  labor  in  the  South,  and 
many  years  must  elapse  before  proprietorship  in  that  section  can  be  multiplied  to  a 
proper  extent.  Until  then  the  development  of  the  country  will  be  slow  and  difficult, 
and  too  wide  a  difference  will  continue  between  the  proprietor  and  the  laborer.  It  is 
demonstrated  that  the  Northern  system,  of  small  holdings  and  numerous  proprietors, 
is  1  est  for  the  State  and  best  for  the  people. 

It  is  know  n  and  admitted  1  ha t  as  proprietors  are  multiplied,  and  the  area  of  estates 
correspondingly  diminished,  the  community  is  most  prosperous,  patriotic,  and  intelli¬ 
gent  ;  ai  c  there  is  little  danger  that  this  sjstem  will  be  carried  too  far  while  there  is 
still  uroccu;ied  space. 

But  free  sales  have  induced  another  class  of  purchasers — non-resident  proprietors 
— capitalists  who  purchase  lor  investment — for  speculation. 

V  hen  the  country  was  wiihoutthe  means  of  cheap  and  rapid  transit,  little  embar¬ 
rassment  was  felt  Irom  th  s  class.  It  was  even  contended  that  they  were  beneficial  in 
mnkii  g  known  and  aiding  in  the  development  of  the  country,  by  stimulating  enter¬ 
prise.  ']  his  may  have  been  true  then;  it  is  not  true  now.  Experience  proves  that 
with  the  improved  means  of  travel,  and  the  greater  prospects  of  rapid  advance  of 
values,  these  capiralits,  or  more  properly  speculators,  will  keep  just  in  advance  of  the 
settlements,  continually  driving  the  cultivator  into  the  wilderness,  beyond  roads, 
schools,  mills,  mechanic  6hops,  and  other  reeled  facilities,  doing  nothing  for  im¬ 
provement;  on  the  contrary,  absolutely  impeding  progress. 

From  all  of  wbmh  it  is  seen  that  fiee  sales  have  produced  but  one  of  three  classes 
of  purchasers  (hat  is  now  desirable — he  who  buys  on  an  average  not  more  than  1  GO  • 
acres,  and  resides  upon  and  cultivates  the  same.  It  is  only  through  the  homestead 
and  pre-emption  that  the  nation  and  people  are  reaping  unmixed  good.  Under  these 
we  secure  the  only  desirable  purchaser,  and  with  these  only  we  exclude  the  undesira¬ 
ble. 


Land  Scrips. 

Here  wre  have  a  most  fruitful  source  of  land  monopoly. 

Such  paper  invariably  diminishes  in  value,  thereby  reducing  the  price  of  lands  to 
the  speculator,  who  purchases  in  large  quantities,  while  it  offerg  less  of  advantage  to 
the  setth  r  than  the  homestead  law.  All  such  issues  are  unmixed  evil,  and  cannot  be 
tolerated  without  detriment  to  the  public  interest.  They  are  immeasurably  w-orse  than 
grants  for  local  improvements,  because  they  bring  no  adequate  compensation  to  any 
section. 

Land  Distribution. 

We  have  now  considered  briefly  the  various  modes  which  have  to  this  time  prevailed 
in  the  disposition  of  the  public  lands,  and  their  effect  upon  this  country  and  people, 
and  their  relations  to  labor.  It  remains  to  inquire,  whether,  in  the  increase  of  popu¬ 
lation,  the  advance  of  improvements,  and  the  diminishing  areas  of  the  public  domain, 
reasons  exist  fora  change  of  measures,  the  adoption  of  a  new  policy,  and  the  aban¬ 
donment  of  one  or  all  of  the  various  systems  which  have  thus  far  operated,  and  which 
have  brought  us  to  the  present  time  and  to  our  present  condition  as  a  neople. 

In  the  rapidly  diminishing  ratio  between  population  and  arable  territory,  in  the 
effect  which  has  been  produced  upon  the  industry,  intelligence,  and  power  of  the 
people  by  land  monopoly  in  the  South,  as  compared  with  land  distribution  in  the 
Noith,  we  have  warning,  that  the  period  has  approached  when  prudence  and  a  due 
regard  to  the  future  demand  a  modification,  if  not  a  radical  change  of  policy — de¬ 
mand,  at  least,  that  monopoly  shall  be  prevented  and  that  distribution  shall  be  en¬ 
couraged. 

The  lines  of  communication  already  provided  for,  the  wealth  of  the  soil  and  mines 
of  the  interior,  and  the  inherent  enterprise  of  our  people,  give  ample  assurance  that 
the  remaining  portion  of  the  public  domain  will  be  absorbed  by  actual  occupation,  as 
rapidly  as ‘will  comport  with  the  best  interests  and  ultimate  destiny  of  our  people. 

it  is  not,  therefore,  to  be  doubted  but  the  policy  of  appropriating  the  public  domain 
for  roads  and  canals  is,  in  the  main,  to  cease,  and  to  be  supplanted  by  the  policy  of 
reservation  for  actual  settlement  under  the  provisions  of  the  Homestead  and  Pre¬ 
emption  Laws 

There  are,  however,  some  sections  which  will  claim,  with  great  show  of  justice, 
appropriations  to  place  them  upon  an  equal  footing  with  su^h  as  have  already  been 
provided  for.  These  will  be  exceptional  cases,  and  their  demands  may,  after  due 
consideration,  be  acceded  to-  For  instance,  tho  proposed  line  of  road  on  the  32d 


8 


t 


parallel  of  latitude  by  which  the  Southern  States  shall  enjoy  a  direct  route  to  the 
Pacific,  and  the  great  and  rich  Territories  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona  find  outlets  te 
the  oceans  for  their  vast  mineral  wealth. 

It  may  be  also,  that  the  progress  of  settlement  will  develop  the  necessity  for  one  or  - 
more  national  North  and  South  routes  between  the  Mississippi  and  Pacific. 

But,  in  any  future  concession,  even  to  the  most  important  and  deserving  localities, 
the  policy  of  restricting  sales  to  actual  settlers,  in  limited  quantities,  will  unques¬ 
tionably  be  enforced,  thereby,  putting  an  end  to  the  further  progress  of  corporate 
monopoly  of  the  public  domain.  That  such  provision  will  be  incorporated  in  the  few 
land  grants  likely  to  find  favor  with  the  public  hereafter,  is  clearly  indicated  by  the 
declaration  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  the  resolution  hereinbefore  quoted, 
in  the  resolute  attitude  of  the  Committee  on  public  lands  of  the  House,  and  in  the 
signal  defeat  of  the  vast  number  of  schemes,  pending  before  Congress  at  its  last 
lession. 

With  this  brief  review  of  its  record,  measures  and  policy  in  relation  to  the  public 
lomain  and  the  rights,  interests  and  claims  of  labor  as  connected  therewith,  the  Re- 
jublican  party  may  well  challenge  its  opponents,  to  an  appeal  to  the  matured  and  en¬ 
lightened  judgment  of  the  people. 


